I have not had many magnums in my life. That said, the few magnums I’ve tried always seem to offer something transcendent. For example, @Rodrigo_B brought a magnum of old Williamette that I expected to hate, but was pretty good. And a few ‘value’ 750mls I bought of 2001 Gran Riserva Bodega Pecina Gran Riserva were unequivocally surpassed by a lone magnum I was able to procure. Which has me wondering… are Magnums always better? And if so… why don’t we talk more about magnums instead of 750mls? Which then had me wondering… maybe some of you ARE focusing on magnums? Now that I have a cellar full of 750mls, I have been trying to buy more magnums here and there (although they do seem to be uncommon in Burgundy as an offering?). I’m not sure where I’ll drink these, but the ones I’ve bought tend to be on the lower/middle of my purchase targets… so will be less painful to open them.
What % Of Wines Do You Buy/Cellar Are Magnums?
0-5%
5-10%
10-20%
20-30%
30-40%
40-50%
Over 50%
0voters
P.S. the poll function is a little screwy or I don’t know how to use it right…
I have very few. A handful of Foillards, Metras and Pedres Blanques. Typically a kind of wine that I want to enjoy with more people, including family who may not be as interested as I am.
Now that I’ve made more and more ‘dangerous’ friends from this board who I’ll meet IRL I might decide to pick up a little bit more from now on.
Magnums tend to stay in the cellar longer. Whilst you might assume that’s because they last longer, I think it’s mostly due to them being only opened for social gatherings, and so there’s simply less opportunity to open them.
I love the celebratory side of magnums, they are just fun and make an impression. That side, I do not buy a lot of them as the opportunity to open them, for me, is limited. My wine groups are parties of five, perfect for multiple 750s, which allows for more variety.
Probably magnums age a bit better - thermal mass, less effect of sunlight, small ratio of air to wine, etc. Larger bottlings (>1.5) have the perceived risk of poorer closer. So my bias is always hold your mags longer.
I buy a good amount of magnums, still a relatively small amount of the cellar, given how many 750s there are. I think for Burgs, the aging curve becomes much more difficult to predict, because so few people open wine from magnum so it’s much more of a crapshoot as to when to open the bottles. I would say for some burgs there’s not a premium and sometimes even a discount to the 750 price, but for higher end wines like DRC and Rousseau there is often an enormous premium.
Maybe your groups are just lightweights, because we have no trouble with variety AND magnums!
Just kidding, my friend, and point taken. We love them at wine dinners, even of just 6 people, because it allows for following a wine over a much longer period of time without it oxidizing quickly in the glass, since you can get a fresh pour. Parities here almost alwasy start with a magnum of champagne, and on the few occasions when wine is left in the magnum at the end of an evening, I love revisiting it while cleaning up, or even the next morning.
Still, like others have said, magnums represent a small percentage of our overall cellar, though way more than 375s and probably more than a lot of people stock since we entertain with regularity. Champagne mags are the largest allocation. I think that the common belief that wine ages better in magnum is especially true for champagne. We also have a lot of Riesling magnums at least party because the shape is so fun!
I love magnums, always have, so perhaps that gives me an advantage as I have lots of mature magnums to choose from, eliminating that age old issue that we have for the first 20 years of this hobby. So much wine and not a bottle ready to drink!
I tend to fluctuate right above 10% of the cellar. I think in a group of 4 you can start popping mags, we open 2 for 4 people. Yes you can have more variety with 750s, but it’s also nice to be able to go back and forth and follow two wines for an evening as opposed to getting a glass of each wine whenever that wine is in rotation among your guests. Non wine geeks don’t follow the rules and take bigger pours so there’s that issue as well.
I started off buying a fair number of mags but found I rarely open them. When I do open one for a large group, it’s always fun and I’m happy I had them, but my ultimate preference is to open 2 different wines instead of one mag.
One aspect of a magnum in their favour, is they don’t need a ‘special’ event to open them. Just enough people, and they make such a visual impression, that they can make a gathering into an event.
Well said, Greg, and in line with my thinking. I do enjoy having a number of wines to taste, but I find more and more, my palate gets fatigued with a bunch of different wines, and at least one or two bottles get lost in the mental jumble of an evening, especially when I’m cooking/plating/serving/clearing/washing in addition to sitting and enjoying. Having a larger volume of fewer wines that I can experience over a few glasses these days gives me a better experience and ultimately leaves me with deeper understanding of the wines.
